Great Loop Chronicles Part Eight
Marine
- Sponsor
- OPTIMA Batteries
- Location
- Lake Chickamauga, TN
The Great Loop Chronicles will be an ongoing series, following the travels of OPTIMA Batteries staffer, Jim McIlvaine, as he travels America's Great Loop, a 6000+ nautical mile journey around the Eastern United States.
Anchoring out our first night went well and we had ambitious plans for the next day, as we continued our journey toward our start of the Great Loop route. The pre-purchase survey had turned up some concerns regarding the propeller shaft seals and cutlass bearings, so we decided to have some scheduled maintenance done at Aqua Yacht in Iuka, Mississippi. The boat would need to be pulled out of the water to get that done and without knowing what parts were on the boat (were they original/OE or something aftermarket?), Aqua Yacht couldn't order the replacement parts until they had the boat out of the water to see for themselves.
We had hoped to make it to Iuka on Monday or Tuesday, but that would involve covering a lot of water and several locks over the next few days. Arrive later than that and it would just take that much longer for the parts to come in. Progress seemed painfully slow at times, as I was told the "sweet spot" for optimal efficiency was in between 900 and 1000 rpms. That kept us at about 7-8 knots, although Captain Chris and others advised me to run it up to 2200 rpms or so for 15 minutes twice a day, to make sure we're keeping the engines running clean. We find ourselves waking up with the sun and early morning conditions seem to be very calm left Wolf Creek and made our way into Chickamauga Lake.
The destination for tonight was our second anchorage in Grasshopper Creek, 63 miles from our start. We stopped off at Terrace View Marina to top off with fuel and Mark, who was working the fuel dock was very nice and gave our kids some ice cream and allowed me to use his shower! When we arrived at Grasshopper Creek, we found another muddy bottom and there was much less wind. There was a boat launch nearby and some houses in the area with kids playing along the shoreline, so it didn't offer the seclusion and privacy we had the night before, but I felt more confident about the anchorage and the chances of us not swinging into anything hard overnight.
We received a call from Captain Thomas, who invited us to stop at the Chattanooga Yacht Club the following day. That would make for a much shorter day on the water that we'd have to make up in subsequent days, but it was a free spot at a dock with water and electricity and what might end up being the least expensive diesel we'll buy on the entire Great Loop, so we made that our destination for the next day.
Anchoring out our first night went well and we had ambitious plans for the next day, as we continued our journey toward our start of the Great Loop route. The pre-purchase survey had turned up some concerns regarding the propeller shaft seals and cutlass bearings, so we decided to have some scheduled maintenance done at Aqua Yacht in Iuka, Mississippi. The boat would need to be pulled out of the water to get that done and without knowing what parts were on the boat (were they original/OE or something aftermarket?), Aqua Yacht couldn't order the replacement parts until they had the boat out of the water to see for themselves.
We had hoped to make it to Iuka on Monday or Tuesday, but that would involve covering a lot of water and several locks over the next few days. Arrive later than that and it would just take that much longer for the parts to come in. Progress seemed painfully slow at times, as I was told the "sweet spot" for optimal efficiency was in between 900 and 1000 rpms. That kept us at about 7-8 knots, although Captain Chris and others advised me to run it up to 2200 rpms or so for 15 minutes twice a day, to make sure we're keeping the engines running clean. We find ourselves waking up with the sun and early morning conditions seem to be very calm left Wolf Creek and made our way into Chickamauga Lake.
The destination for tonight was our second anchorage in Grasshopper Creek, 63 miles from our start. We stopped off at Terrace View Marina to top off with fuel and Mark, who was working the fuel dock was very nice and gave our kids some ice cream and allowed me to use his shower! When we arrived at Grasshopper Creek, we found another muddy bottom and there was much less wind. There was a boat launch nearby and some houses in the area with kids playing along the shoreline, so it didn't offer the seclusion and privacy we had the night before, but I felt more confident about the anchorage and the chances of us not swinging into anything hard overnight.
We received a call from Captain Thomas, who invited us to stop at the Chattanooga Yacht Club the following day. That would make for a much shorter day on the water that we'd have to make up in subsequent days, but it was a free spot at a dock with water and electricity and what might end up being the least expensive diesel we'll buy on the entire Great Loop, so we made that our destination for the next day.